You may have noticed, on Thursday of this week, that the Google doodle celebrated the 117th birthday of one Ladislao José Biro – the man who brought us a writing implement so strong, durable and quick-drying that it has stood the test of time and even proved invaluable during the
For as long as I can remember being aware of lectures, I have been familiar also with that strange, half-camel, half-unicorn known as the ‘lecture recital.’ It’s a funny old thing. In principle, it should be the most straightforward pairing in the world: you want to play or sing some
On Thursday night, as I sat quietly scrolling through my Twitter feed, my brain partially occupied with thinking about all the stuff I’d been reading about Dvořák that afternoon in preparation for an upcoming City Lit course, I totally misread something. Or rather, my eyes skimmed across the text and,
This weekend, I’m at the Royal Musical Association’s Annual Conference, which is taking place in the smart surroundings of Milton Court, part of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. It’s always a very rich event – since it’s not a specialist conference (one of the few such general gatherings
In the summer of 1998, at around this time, my Dad and I drove to my school with our brand new puppy (who promptly tried chewing the deputy head when she tried to pet him) to collect my GCSE results. I was completely high on adrenalin by the time we
In the height of summer, with the Proms and the Edinburgh Festival in full swing and thousands of people attending music events (classical and otherwise) all over the UK, it seems boring in the extreme to have to write about recent ‘death of the concert audience’ remarks. But a couple of
I love August. The weather has been glorious, the schedule considerably less frantic, and the opportunity is finally here for me – as well as many others – to relax, take some time off, and work at a calm and leisurely pace through the friendly pile of tasks to be
Apparently, yet another series of The Great British Bake Off will be starting later this month. I’d like to say I care, or that I’ll be watching, or that I own a TV, or indeed am remotely interested in spending my evenings cheering and swearing at a group of people
When I was still an undergraduate, I remember sitting with several of my fellow students discussing their recent holidays. One of them had been on a trip with their family to a country rich in ancient buildings, early signs of Christianity, and traces of times past. The guide leading them
It’s that time of year again, and I’m back in the stunning surroundings of north Yorkshire for the 2016 Ryedale Festival. Better still, I’ve been working again with the wonderful Heath Quartet in four concerts, presenting the entire late Beethoven quartets in tandem with T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets, read with
